


The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord

by The_Distorted_Shadow



Category: Disgaea (Games), Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-03 07:52:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14564421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Distorted_Shadow/pseuds/The_Distorted_Shadow
Summary: When Emiya Shirou chose to give up and allow himself to be consumed to stop Gilgamesh from escaping destruction, he never expected to find himself in another world. Now in a world filled with demons and terrorized by a Tyrannical Despot, he has found a place to fulfill his dream of being a hero and saving everyone. It's just a shame everyone he's saving is completely insane.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone.  
> For those who haven't read my profile, this is actually something that has already been posted on Fanfiction.net for a while now.  
> And I just decided to post my things here as well.  
> Also, just to be clear, I put the rating as Mature just to be on the safe side more than anything else, so it might not be explicit enough for the rating, but I feel more comfortable with it anyway.  
> But anyway... I suppose I should just shut up and let you get on with the story.

Emiya Shirou couldn’t stop a groan of agony from escaping his throat as his consciousness returned to him.

The process was slow as his body screamed in protest at every miniscule movement as his mind slowly processed what had happened to him.

Gilgamesh.

He had fought Gilgamesh and finally realized his reality marble, though he had needed Rin’s prana to actually use it due to sheer lack of experience and power on his part.

But he had won.

He had taken the arrogant kings arm and then just as his reality shattered, the Servant had started to form a hole in space… and the ancient king had tried to take him with him.

He remembered fighting the pull for a little while before realizing that his foe might actually escape destruction if he kept pulling… and so he gave up.

He had let himself get pulled into the mass of darkness and that was the last thing he remembered.

He had to get up.

He had to search for his enemy.

He had to find out exactly what had happened and why he was still alive.

So he pushed.

He pushed as hard as he could and slowly but surely, he started to rise.

His body protested every ounce of energy he put into it, he felt like he was going to fall apart at any moment but that was nothing.

He had to rise up because if he didn’t then who would stop Gilgamesh?

He managed to get his knee under him and he finally gained stability… and so he opened his eyes.

What he saw was not what he was expecting.

Wherever he was, it was lush, green and littered with ruined architecture that looked like it was straight out of a manga… something that should’ve been impossible to create and yet here were ruins of those very same impossible structures.

However that wasn’t what really caught his attention, no, what truly caught his attention was the fact that there were _two_ suns in the sky… and they were just sitting right next to each other.

His mind reeled at the single, logical conclusion of that astrological evidence… he wasn’t on Earth anymore.

Somehow he had been transported to another planet and he was now trapped away from home, on an unknown planet with the ruins of some great civilisation and he had no idea where his foe was or how he was going to get back home.

Honestly this was now officially one of the worst days in his life and given that he had had a piece of shrapnel impale him through the spine that was actually saying something.

But he had felt worse before, especially when he fought Archer, in that fight his body was burning, his muscles felt like they were ripping and he was pushing himself far beyond his breaking point for the sole purpose of not giving in to the future version of himself.

So he pushed himself further, feeling his muscles scrap against each other as he prepared himself to continue the fight with the golden hero.

He couldn’t stop himself from feeling both relieved and disappointed when he realized that the arrogant hero was nowhere to be seen.

But he couldn’t let himself relax and fall, he didn’t yet know where he was or if it was even safe to stay here.

“Yo dood, what’re doing here dood?” his mind focused sharply upon hearing an unfamiliar voice and he turned his head to look towards whoever was speaking to him, only to find nothing at face level.

He then looked lower and found himself blinking in disbelief as he began to wonder if he was suffering from exhaustion induced hallucinations.

It was a penguin.

And not just a normal penguin but a blue, peg legged, stuffed penguin with a satchel located at the waist, the worst part was that it was looking at him and blinking.

He couldn’t stop himself from staring as it stared back before tilting its head and opening its mouth.

“Uh, are you all right dood?” he was certain his jaw dropped at the absurdity of this situation… at least until the pain he had been ignoring became too much and he started to crumple despite refusing to fall.

“Uh, I guess I’ll take that as a no dood,” the creature said once more and Shirou found himself wondering just why it was saying dood constantly.

“Well I guess I should take you somewhere safe, right dood?” he felt himself frowning at that before feeling the little peg legged creature lift him above its head much to his surprise.

As he watched the scenery go by, he found himself wondering just how much more complicated his life had just gotten.

 

XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX

 

Shirou felt his eyes open upon the morning light hitting his face.

Looking around the room, he found himself recognizing the simple but warm décor and soft furnishings that he had been living with for the past week.

Rising from the bed he had been given, he started to work out some kinks that had developed overnight before getting himself dressed for his morning routine.

The house he was currently recuperating in was small, just a hut with a living room with a cooking fire in the centre, two bedrooms located off the living room and a single small bathroom with a bathtub heated by a fire.

So it was a rather simple home but it was at least comfortable and more importantly, he had managed to recover from his fight with Gilgamesh while he was here.

Leaving the house, he proceeded to walk over to the nearby forest and silently projected a simple axe as he started to cut down a tree or two for the fires.

“Emiya-san, what do you think you’re doing?” a voice that had quickly grown familiar to him called out from behind him and he found himself freezing mid swing.

Turning around he looked at the owner of the voice.

His name was Trey and he was short, short enough that he only came up to Shirou’s shoulder, he was also very thin and had greyish blonde hair tied into a pair of pigtails and a pair of pointy ears.

The fact that the boy wore what was essentially a strapless white dress that pooled at his feet had made identifying him as male rather difficult at first.

Of course, he wasn’t complaining about being brought here, that much was for certain given how the boy was literally capable of using healing magic strong enough to fix him up in a second.

The part that took a while to get used to was the massive handcuffs and the barbs that caused the young boy to bleed everywhere and soak his dress crimson near the bottom.

He had tried to convince the boy to stop wearing such self-destructive clothing but had failed due to the boy being unprepared to not punish himself for his sins.

“Uh, I… um…” he tried to think of a way to say he was going to cut down some firewood without actually saying that.

“You were going to cut down a tree weren’t you?” the boy stated with narrowed eyes and he found himself grimacing as he gave a nod of confirmation, “how many times do I have to tell you… leave it to the Prinny, it’s supposed to be working to pay off its sins so doing its job for it is making having it pointless.”

Shirou grimaced at that statement.

He had been told that the blue penguin like thing was what was called a Prinny and that it was the soul of a dead human put in a vessel and working for its chance at reincarnation.

“Sorry, it just doesn’t feel right to leave everything to it,” even now he still didn’t know what gender the Prinny actually was, the fact it wouldn’t tell him only made him feel more depressed at having to called it ‘it’.

“The more work you take from it, the longer it’ll take for it to reincarnate,” the boy stated firmly, “do you want it to suffer even longer than it has too?”

That was true, he had actually seen the contract signed for ownership of the Prinny and despite how unfair it looked to him, the fact that he had discovered it was a _standard_ contract for a Prinny made him reluctantly accept the situation.

Emphasis on the reluctantly.

“Prinny!” the boy called out, causing the peg-legged creature to appear and give a firm salute.

“Yes Master dood!” the response was enough to make Shirou feel his annoyance at the creature’s situation stir up again… it was pretty much slavery as far as he was concerned after all.

“Stop lazing around and get some firewood ready,” the blonde boy stated seriously, though admittedly the voice was still rather soft compared to most of the males he knew.

“Yes dood!” and with that the little penguin like creature rushed up to the tree he was about to cut down before pulling a large axe out of the satchel and starting to hack into the tree.

Shirou still didn’t know _how_ it managed to hold the handle when all it had was a pair of flippers.

“It doesn’t feel right to not do anything,” he found himself admitting as he watched the dead person doing the job he was about to do.

“… then you can go into town and get some food for dinner,” the boy stated with a small grin, “after all, you’re a hell of a better cook than the Prinny.”

“Sorry Dood!” the penguin shouted from its position next to the tree.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he acknowledged, he guessed that going into town wouldn’t be so bad, the last time he had gone there things had been pretty nice… hard to adjust to but nice none the less.

“Good,” and with that the little boy gave him a purse full of money and he started on his trip to the nearby town for groceries.

 

XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX

 

The nearby town of Borque was a nice little hamlet completely in keeping with the house he was now living in, simple, made mainly of stone and wood.

It gave off the impression of a stereotypical medieval English settlement whenever he saw it and made his curiosity about the ruins increase even further.

What sort of disaster had befallen this world to end whatever civilisation had created such impressive structures?

“Hello Emiya-kun, here alone today?” a friendly and effeminate voice called out causing him to look towards the owner.

It was taller than him, had a friendly smile adorning their feminine face, a slender figure that was shown off by the lack of clothing it wore and most importantly, it was a plant.

As in, it had a pair of flowers instead of hair, green skin, a large bud and a root forming its lower body and he had even been told that it was technically both male and female due to the whole fact it was a plant.

“Ah, hello Adari-san,” he answered upon remembering the name of the creature that had called out to him, “I’m just here to get some groceries.”

The first time he had come to this town he had been shocked to the point where he was about to trace Kanshou and Byakuya due to the sheer number of inhuman creatures he had seen on his first view of the town.

That was when Trey had finally told him where he was.

This was one of a near infinite number of Netherworlds that existed in the multiverse… it was literally a world of demons.

He had nearly hyperventilated at that but had managed to hold off on attacking any of the demons that resided there.

Eventually though he came to conclusion as he interacted with the demons and started to learn a little about their culture.

Demons weren’t Evil.

Sure most regularly _tried_ to be evil since that was what their culture expected of them, but they were surprisingly less capable of committing evil than a typical Magus was… let alone a Dead Apostle or an Ancestor.

That realisation had cause him to relax around the beings that he thought he should very well be scared half to death of.

“Oh?  Is that so?” Adari was what they called an Alraune and seemed to be exceptionally pleasant towards him, “do you need any vegetables?”

It also ran a vegetable stand in town, even priding itself on growing the oranges from its own body.

The fact that Adari seemed happy with the idea of people eating parts of itself was something he didn’t think he’d ever get used to… or the fact it couldn’t tell the difference between fruit and veg despite being one itself.

“Yeah,” he admitted as he started to view what was on offer, not that anything was on sale, he’d quickly come to realize that demons didn’t make things cheaper for any reason except legislation, which meant everything was always being sold at full price no matter when he showed up for it.

“Take your time Emiya-kun,” the friendly plant said with a smile, “I’m sure you’ll find something you want… have you tried my oranges yet?”

He found himself freezing at that, unsure whether or not he should be blushing right now.

“Uh… no?” he didn’t know how he should react to that question and decided to just tell the truth despite how much it disturbed him to do so.

“Would you like to try one?” Adari asked with a sly smirk on its face as he found himself unsure whether or not to back away from the plant-like demon.

“I-I’m fine, thank you Adari-san,” he answered as he continued to look at the selection in an attempt at pushing past any embarrassment he might feel.

“That’s a shame,” the demonic plant responded with a sigh of disappointment, “I’m very proud of my Oranges.”

Shirou was already aware of that fact but hearing it from the mouth of the demon itself didn’t help him from feeling uncomfortable.

Eventually though he managed to find himself picking out a decent selection of fruit before moving on and preparing himself for the significantly less awkward matter of buying some meat.

 

XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX

 

Returning with the groceries, Shirou found himself releasing a sigh at the strain interacting with so many demons brought about.

He was honestly left with the belief that there wasn’t a single sane demon out there from what he had seen here.

That’s not to say it was a bad thing because they weren’t really malicious, just weird and that made it safe but also stressing dealing with them.

“I’m back,” he called out easily as he walked towards the kitchen.

“I’ll take those off you dood,” he found himself frowning as the Prinny that lived with them immediately showed up and took the groceries he had just bought.

Honestly the fact that he was expected to leave everything to the Prinny was one of the worst parts of appearing here.

He _needed_ to help people, sitting around doing nothing went against the very fabric of his existence.

It actually made him wonder just how much better he’d be as a Prinny instead of a Counter Guardian.

He released a sigh of defeat as he dismissed that thought from his head.  Everything was just going too smoothly and he was now wondering if he’d ever manage to help anyone again.

And with that thought, he started back towards the house in the hopes of being of some use during his stay here.

 

XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX

 

Shirou released a sigh as he once again projected Kanshou and Byakuya in an attempt at keeping his skills at least in working order.

He couldn’t help but admit that he was definitely finding it easier to project them now that he knew the trick to projecting weapons.

He just had to select them from the Unlimited Blade Works and use the copy as a base instead of trying to go through the steps he had previously used.

The main problem though was that there was a part of him, a part that had synced with EMIYA that told him he was missing an important aspect of the Reality Marble.

But he just couldn’t figure out what it was he was missing and so he dispersed the constructs.

“AAAHHH!!!” Shirou found himself rushing without thinking upon hearing a scream resounding through the area.

Sure it sounded like a Prinny but he didn’t care what it was he was saving, it just needed to be saved.

He idly wondered how stupid he would look if he came barrelling into the area and it turned out Trey was just forbidding it from eating but he didn’t care, someone cried out and he didn’t intend on abandoning them!

Finally reaching the area of the cry he was greeted by the sight of a red imp and a group of small, pig-like Orcs surrounding the Prinny as they attacked it mercilessly.

“Stop it!” he called out as he rushed the group, Kanshou and Byakuya firmly back in his grip as the group of aggressors turned to face him.

“Wha-GYARH!” one of the Orcs started to speak but it was too late as the flat of Kanshou impacted with its face.

“Shirou Dood!!!” the Prinny cried out in clear joy at his presence, “you came to save me dood!”

“Yeah,” he nodded in acknowledgement as he noted the way the demons that had been attacking seemed to jerk back in shock, “just leave this to me.”

“What the…?” the Imp sounded completely confused at it stared at him like he had grown another head, “are you for real?”

“Risking your life for a _prinny_?” one of the orcs he hadn’t smashed in the face seemed just as confused.

“Yeah, so what?” Shirou spoke up with narrowed eyes.

“W-why?” the confusion was still there, “they’re just worthless criminals, they don’t deserve to be protected.”

Shirou simply narrowed his eyes in response to that claim.

“So what?” it was a simple response to that question, “he needs help and I'm here.”

The group once again seemed to recoil at his claim and he took that time to analyse their weapons and add them to the Unlimited Blade Works.

The history of the weapons immediately made him nervous.

The speed and force with which they had been wielded was greater than what he could bring to bear himself but it wasn't quite on the level of a Servant, meaning he had the skill to overcome that speed and power with Technique.

Especially given how he was using the style developed by Archer for the very purpose of facing those stronger and faster than him.

Of course, there was the issue that these demons had one major advantage against his style… their lack of skill.

How was he supposed to use intentional openings against them if they were too brutish to aim for them?

“Ah screw this!!!” one of the Orcs finally cried out before charging at him with its club held high.

Shirou honestly found himself blinking at that, it was moving much slower than he would expect from its weapon’s history… but he kept his wits about him.

The strike was as fast as he anticipated but despite that, he managed to deflect it somewhat and landed a counter slash on the Demon’s shoulder.

He found himself blinking as it fell down from that single strike.

“Wha?  That asshole killed bro!” one of the other Orcs cried out and Shirou found himself trying to comprehend exactly what was going on as the other Orcs started charging him.

He once again found himself struggling to comprehend exactly what was happening as he prepared himself for the attacks of his aggressors and countered efficiently, angering even more of them as they quickly dropped like flies much to his confusion.

His instincts burst to life and he dodged backwards just before a pillar of fire erupted from where he had previously been.

“Dammit!!!” the Imp cried out angrily as Shirou turned his attention to it and realised that he wouldn’t be capable of reaching it without going through the Orcs.

That is if it wasn’t for one thing they didn’t realise.

His weapons were expendable.

And so he threw the twin blades in his hands at the correct angle to converge upon the red creature, earning several looks of disbelief before one of the Orcs let out a mocking laugh.

“Hahaha!!!  Did you really just throw away your swords?” it spoke in clear amusement, unaware of the blades ability to attract each other.

“So, you’re giving up eh?” the Imp said with a malicious grin before finding it’s sides impaled by three feet of cold steel, “w-what?”

“Eh?!!!  How’d you do that?!!!” one of the orcs cried out in clear shock upon discovering that their apparent leader had just been impaled by the very swords their opponent had thrown.

Shirou simply smiled before tracing another set of blades now that he didn’t have to worry about them interfering with the trajectories of the first two... he had honestly been expecting his foes to try and attack him while he had been disarmed but they were clearly too arrogant for such a manoeuvre.

“Grr… Dammit! Retreat!” one of the Orcs cried out causing the rest to break formation and start running away, “I’ll remember this you stupid Prinny hugger!”

Shirou had to blink at that term… he didn’t hug Prinnies.

“Thank you Dood!!!” the Prinny that had previously been getting beaten up cried out in clear happiness at being saved.

“Uh… it’s no problem,” he responded uncertainly… honestly it had all felt pretty anti-climactic to him given how hard a fight he’d been expecting off the group.

“You don’t look too good dood!” the Prinny continued to say and he looked at it before giving a mirthless chuckle.

“Sorry, I’m just surprised by how weak they were,” he admitted much to his own embarrassment.

“Well what did you expect dood?” the Prinny said with confusion clear in its tone, “they were like the tutorial targets dood.”

Shirou was about to respond when his mind finally processed what the Prinny had just said.

“Tutorial Targets?” that term confused him.

“Yeah, they’re the enemies you face while you learn what you’re doing dood!” the little blue penguin stated clearly.

“The world doesn’t work like that,” he told the encased soul easily.

“Yeah, I used to think that too dood,” the Prinny said as it nodded sagely, “now I know better dood.”

Shirou could do little more than frown at that claim as he shook his head clear of the thoughts that had previously been plaguing him.

“Well, I guess you’re capable of looking after yourself if that was anything to go by,” he heard the familiar voice of Trey as he walked towards him and the Prinny.

“Yeah,” he admitted as he watched Trey come to a stop not far away, “do you know why those guys were here?”

It was a simple yet very important question and he found himself frowning when the healer nodded easily.

“Yeah, those guys were the minions of Vile Plotz, so they were probably here to kill everyone,” Shirou found himself staring blankly at the boy.

First of all, he just casually admitted that those guys were there to slaughter everyone and second…

“Vile Plotz?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking with a hint of disbelief.

“He’s the Overlord of this Netherworld,” Trey explained easily.

“… and his name is Vile Plotz?” Shirou didn’t know if he should believe it or not given how it sounded like the name of a Tokusatsu show villain.

“Yep,” the instant, response was said with a blank stare and Shirou found himself releasing a sigh.

“You’re screwing with me aren’t you?” he asked seriously.

“Nope, his name really is Vile Plotz,” the blonde boy answered seriously.

“Why?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking in disbelief.

“Well you see, when Mister and Missis Plotz got together,” Trey started to explain and Shirou found himself cutting the guy off.

“That’s not what I meant!” this was just one of those situations that he found himself struggling to cope with… now if the Overlord had been some ominous figure, wreathed in Darkness with some dangerous and powerful esoteric ability the that would be fine.

But he just couldn’t accept that Vile Plotz was his actual name… or that the guy was stupid enough to use such a name in their conquest.

“Okay… so are you going to go save the village?” the while clad demon asked him easily.

“W-what do you mean save the village?” he asked with a dread swelling up in his stomach.

“Well, the main force is attacking it right now so I thought you’d want to deal with that?” Trey stated bluntly causing his eyes to widen in shock at the calmness he was stating it with.

“Wha-?  Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!” he couldn’t stop himself from crying out in displeasure at the blood covered boy who simply shrugged.

“Well, if you’re going to make it in time then you’re going to make it in time and if you’re going to be too late then you’re going to be too late,” the Healer stated easily, “so are you going to take the dimensional gate?”

“Dimensional Gate?” Shirou didn’t know what the healer meant by that until he looked in the direction the healer was pointing and seeing some sort of portal.

“It’ll take you where you need to go,” Trey stated with a shrug.

Shirou didn’t waste any more time as he sped towards the portal and passed through.

Immediately his nose was assaulted by the all too familiar scent of burning as his eyes were assaulted by the heat and fumes created by the pillars of fire that engulfed the town.

Looking around he saw that walls that had previously stood had been torn down, stalls that used to line the street were now knocked over and broken with some burning like the majority of the houses.

Shirou felt his teeth grit at the scene.

The only redeeming factor he could see was the lack of bodies but he quickly started moving to find survivors or enemies because he doubted it would remain this way for long.

Searching through the area he quickly came across a sight he wasn’t all that surprised to see.

Adari was standing in the middle of a large street, fighting off several foes without too much difficulty.

“Enough!!!” his ears were assaulted by a feminine cry as the attackers started to back off, “must I do everything myself?!”

From beyond the grunts a girl appeared and Shirou wondered just why she was here.

She looked to be a couple of years younger than him, something, he had to remind himself, meant she would probably be somewhere in the region of fifteen _hundred_ years old, and had short black hair in a bob cut with a pair of rather prominent, bull horns coming from the side of her head and tanned skin.

Her slitted yellow eyes held a clear malevolence in them that directed itself at Adari while her deep purple dress was highlighted with gold trimming.

The worst part of this girl though was probably the gun holstered on her hip… because unfortunately he was unable to read its history and so he was left with no idea what sort of fighter this girl was.

“You!” she cried out to Adari who stood firm, “how dare you stand against my father!”

Well, that explained why this girl was here then.

“Given that it’s either stand against him or die… I’m inclined to pick the option that has me live a little longer,” the plant person answered easily enough.

“Grrr!” the purple clad demon growled out before speaking up once again, “fine then!  I, Lotsa Plotz, the first daughter of Lord Vile Plotz shall destroy you for your insolence!”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from gaping at the girl.

How could she keep a straight face with a name like that?

No, he couldn’t let himself get distracted… he needed to get his head together and stop this girl and her forces.

So he did the first thing that made sense.

He traced Caladbolg and twisted it into a partially familiar spiral shape before notching it into a freshly traced bow.

Focusing on the Noble Phantasm, he charged it to its breaking point before releasing the string and watching as the projectile flew straight at his target fast enough to leave a distortion in the air around it.

“Wha?” the girl had no chance to finish her cry of surprise before the twisted sword struck her dead in the face and exploded with enough force to level a graveyard.

He released a sigh of relief as he saw the minions being thrown about by the force of the explosion and smashing against the buildings that were still standing.

“Okay!  Who the hell tried to blow me up?!!!” his eyes widened in shock at the angry call from within the dust of the explosion before it was blown away by a clearly irate female demon.

He swallowed nervously at the sight before him, not just because she had managed to survive his attack, even Berserker had lost a life to the same attack pulled off by Archer, but also due to the face that outside of a small cut, singed hair and being covered in dirt… she appeared to be unharmed by his strike.

It was obvious to him now that she was in a completely different league to the Orc’s and Imp he had fought earlier.

“Eh?!” the surprised cry of Adari sounded and he noticed it looking towards him before it blinked, “eh?  Emiya-kun?”

“Grrr…” the growl escaping the lips of Lotsa Plotz drew his attention, “so you’re the little asshole that tried to blow me up!!!”

He didn’t wait another second before tracing Kanshou and Byakuya in preparation for the upcoming fight, there was no way he was going to have an easy time here… he considered the possibility of even dying here but he knew that if he did that, then there would be no one left to stop this demonic girl.

He just hoped he _could_ defeat the monster before him.


	2. Chapter 2

Emiya Shirou braced himself as he continued to watch his new foe.

He didn’t know if he could possibly defeat this creature, after all, if she could shrug off Caladbolg like it was nothing then he didn’t know if he had anything in his Reality Marble that had the power to inflict any real damage on her.

Holding the Black and White Swords in his hands, he prepared himself to defend himself as soon as this demonic girl moved.

He wasn’t a fool, he may have been reckless and have practically zero sense of self-preservation when it came to saving people but he wasn’t an idiot.

He knew that he was no match for a normal servant, he knew that despite looking like a teenage girl, this demon was likely not far off one hundred times older than him and significantly more powerful.

However, none of that mattered when the lives of others were on the line and with Adari in the area, he was not going to retreat even if it cost him his life.

“Emiya-kun, you really shouldn’t be here,” the very same plant demon spoke up with a shocking lack of concern over the situation as a whole.

“Adari-san… get out of here,” he said with complete seriousness in his tone as he refused to take his eyes of the foe before him.

He was almost distracted by the sigh of exasperation that came from the plant demon.

“Emiya-kun... she’s so far beyond your level that I’m impressed you could even scratch her,” he found himself swallowing nervously at that reminder but refused to do anything more than steel himself for the upcoming confrontation.

“I know,” he admitted without preamble as he started to wonder why the enemy wasn’t attacking yet.

He almost blinked in surprise when she proceeded to look rather condescendingly at her watch before releasing a sigh and looking at them.

“Are you two quite finished chatting yet?” Lotsa Plotz proceeded to call out with irritation clear in her tone, “I’m on a deadline here.”

“Yeah yeah,” Adari responded with a rather dismissive gesture before moving in his direction and moving past him, “well Emiya-kun, let’s just hope you’ve got some serious plot armour… because you’re gonna need it.”

He found himself blinking at that claim.

What did Adari even mean by that?

He soon found the plant-like demon leaving the area while the gun toting girl did nothing to try and stop it.

“Now, are you quite finished?” he found himself frowning once more as he got into a defensive posture.

“Why are you even asking that?” he honestly couldn’t fathom why events turned out the way they did.

“Because I’m beginning to get really annoyed that you keep wasting my time like this!” once again, Shirou found himself frowning in confusion at the demon princess’s complaint.

“But why _are_ you waiting for me in the first place?” it was something he just couldn’t understand, didn’t pragmatism dictate that you attacked your foe when they were least expecting it?

“Because unlike _you_ ,” she seemed to make certain she spat out the ‘you’ in a very accusatory manner, “some of us are not so uncouth as to interrupt an expository scene.”

He once again blinked in disbelief.

“I… I’m sorry… but did you just say that you didn’t attack because it would be _impolite_?” he couldn’t wrap his head around that… she was a demon so why did it matter if she was impolite or not?

“Are you ready or not already?!” she shouted at him with her face taking on a rather red hue at his questioning and he found himself deciding to do something that could prove rather underhanded given this girl’s current methodology.

“Uh… no?” he lied, wondering if she would take that at face value and wait for him some more or if she’d just lose it and attack him regardless.

“THEN HURRY UP!!!” her frustration was clear to him and he found himself silently thanking whatever deity was listening for her to be so gullible.

He quickly found himself searching his reality marble for weapons that could potentially harm the girl in front of him and he found himself internally frowning as even the most powerful blades he possessed would likely do little more than scratch her if a Broken Caladbolg could barely do anything.

However he soon picked out one blade in particular, one that he had probably gotten from his brief period spent inside Archer’s own version of Unlimited Blade Works.

Hopefully this would be capable of cutting the girl at the very least.

So he prepared his Magic Circuits in preparation to call forth the blade before charging at the demon princess.

She seemed to blink in response to his charge before scowling and raising her gun, prompting him to cross Kanshou and Byakuya in front of him as he continued his charge.

He had only one shot at this after all.

There was a thundering shot as the demon girl pulled the trigger and Shirou immediately regretted trying to block the attack.

Kanshou and Byakuya may have only been C- rank Noble Phantasms but they were noble phantasms none the less.

And they had been shattered like nothing by whatever bullet struck them.

To make matters even worse for him, the force of the strike had numbed his arms and enough force had made its way past his defence to nearly crush his ribcage and knock him back several feet.

“… is that it?” the demonic girl sounded almost disappointed in how little he managed to do before her.

He gritted his teeth as he considered the cost of his Reality Marble’s limitations.

If he had known how powerful that weapon was then he would’ve dodged it or at the very least used a shield instead of his swords.

At least he had managed to give Adari a chance to run away.

But what did that chance really mean in the grand scheme of things?  How far could Adari get before it was caught again?

Shirou once again gritted his teeth as he forced himself to get up despite the pain he was currently in… he had to at the very least stop this foe.

“Oh?  Getting up?” the gun wielder seemed almost amused by his attempt at standing before levelling her gun at him once again, “we’ll soon fix that.”

Shirou found himself immediately pulling Rho Aias from his reality marble and using it to block the next shot, cringing in pain as the first three petals were shattered in an instant.

It honestly made him wonder just how he managed to survive the first strike.

“Eh?” his ears caught the sound of the demon girl and he looked towards her to see her staring at his shield with… were those _sparkles_ in her eyes?

“You!  What is your name?!” the Purple dressed girl demanded of him.

“E… Emiya, Shirou,” he gritted out through the pain, silently wondering if he’d have any chance of surviving this encounter or if this was as far as he could go against demons.

“Hmm… can you fix that pink thing?” her question made him frown… did she mean Rho Aias? “well?  Can you or can’t you?”

“D-do you mean Rho Aias?” he tried to clarify, earning a confused stare from the horned girl.

“Is that what you call the pink thing that blocked my shot?” okay, so she definitely meant Rho Aias.

“Y… yes,” he admitted to her, causing her to nod before frowning.

“Wait… did you mean yes that is what you call it or yes you can fix it?” it was actually rather disturbing to be in this situation… she held the clear advantage and seemed to have no intention of finishing him off.

“And what do you think you’re doing young lady?” a new voice cut through the air and Shirou found himself gritting his teeth yet again as the girl proceeded to let out an ‘eep’ as someone appeared behind her before Shirou could even process the stranger’s sudden appearance.

The fact that the demonic girl looked absolutely terrified of this stranger only made Shirou even more nervous at their sudden appearance.

“S-S-Sebastian?!” she seemed shocked to see him and due to her moving to face the stranger, Shirou finally managed to get a good look at them.

They were surprisingly short, only being about five foot if his estimate was right, however the stranger definitely had a more mature complexion, nothing that would indicate he was out of his prime but more than enough to indicate he wasn’t young.

Beyond that, he wore what appeared to be a relatively standard butler uniform while his red hair was slicked back.

Nothing about his appearance screamed threatening but Shirou found himself unable to do anything but stare as he was confronted by a pressure that made him wish he was facing down Berserker alone and without magecraft.

“Your father expressly stated that you were to return on the hour,” the butler stated firmly, “it is currently over three minutes past the hour and you still have not returned.”

Three minutes?

This monster showed up because she was a mere _three minutes late_?

Shirou suddenly found himself feeling completely inconsequential as he considered how powerful this ‘Vile Plotz’ person must be to have a monster like this working for him.

“B-but!” the purple dressed girl stated only to be cut off the stranger.

“It is obvious that you do not grant your father the respect he deserves,” the redheaded butler stated with closed eyes before opening them to reveal orbs of scarlet on black, “you are to return immediately to face a punishment deemed suitable by your father.”

“Y… yes Sebastian,” the gun wielding girl deflated as the stranger grabbed a hold of her and vanished in an instant.

Shirou could do little more than grit his teeth as he finally allowed Rho Aias to disperse… he had managed to survive thanks to pure luck and the timely intervention of an even more powerful enemy.

He needed to find a way to get stronger and quickly at that.

But right now, he needed to get back to Trey and get healed before he died of internal bleeding.

 

XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX

 

Shirou could do little more than grimace as he was finally healed up by the boy that had taken him in when he had first appeared in this world.

Despite everything, he had been pretty much completely useless against Lotsa Plotz and she was clearly outclassed by that Sebastian person.

The worst part however, was probably the whole fact that he didn’t know of any way that could allow him to even come close to those monsters even with the rest of his life to train.

“What’s wrong Emiya-kun?” he found his attention drawn towards the familiar face of Adari as the plant demon spoke up.

He had been somewhat surprised to discover that it had decided to take refuge at Trey’s house but it was a rather nice sight that reminded him that his pain hadn’t been for nothing.

“Sorry,” he decided to apologize, “I guess I’m just not strong enough to face those guys.”

He felt his depression return full force.

He honestly couldn’t think of a way to stop Vile Plotz army, not when it had such immensely powerful monsters like that amongst its members.

“So what?” he found himself blinking at Adari’s question, “you survived your last encounter.”

“Because of pure luck,” he pointed out bluntly, causing Adari to snort in amusement.

“It’s called plot armour,” the flower like creature stated easily, “it just means you’re a main character.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself.

He just stared at Adari blankly as he tried to comprehend just how distorted someone has to be to believe such a thing.

“Adari… plot armour isn’t real,” he once again spoke bluntly, earning an amused smirk off the demon.

“If you say so,” the way the plant like creature said that was probably one of the most condescending tones he had ever heard… and given that he had been friends with Shinji, that was really saying something.

“So, what are you planning on doing now?” Shirou found his attention drawn back to Trey as the little medic stood there with an amused smile on his lips as well.

“… I don’t know,” he honestly didn’t know what he _could_ do right now.

He definitely wanted to fight the Overlords army but he had just learned that he wasn’t even remotely close to anyone important when it came to power despite being pretty certain that the typical foot soldiers weren’t any real threat to the world given how easily he had dispatched some of them.

So what use was he really?

Once again he found himself trapped in a situation where he was massively outclassed and would have to rely on another achieve his goal of saving as many lives as possible.

“I want to help fight this guy… but…” he trailed off as he made that admission, despite how hard he had worked, despite having a reality marble filled with legendary weapons that he could use effectively… he was still powerless before these enemies.

“You don’t stand at chance at your current level,” Trey stated easily and he nodded in acknowledgement, “well we’ll just have to fix that won’t we.”

Shirou found himself looking at the healer in disbelief.

Did Trey really think he could get strong enough to stand against those monsters?

“And how am I supposed to get strong enough to face them?” he asked cautiously, earning a grin off the healer.

“By forcibly reincarnating you of course,” the boy answered with amusement clear in his tone.

Shirou for his part could only stare at him in confusion.

“Wouldn’t that mean killing me?” he asked bluntly, earning a sigh of dismay from the other boy.

“No, it just means dismantling your body and rebuilding it around your soul,” the blood soaked healer answered easily, “though we’ll probably have to do it a few times to get you a good base.”

Okay, now Trey had completely lost him.

“Why does getting reincarnated multiple times matter?” surely reincarnation was meant to reset his existence each time.

“Because we’re talking about forced reincarnation, not natural reincarnation,” that made him frown, “natural reincarnation is meant to reset you… forced reincarnation is meant to use your current power to empower your base.”

Wait… using his current power to improve his base?

“So… if I did this… how strong would I be?” he asked nervously, earning a shrug off the duo.

“Probably a little weaker than you are right now,” Adari admitted easily, “but you’d soon grow stronger.”

Okay, so weaker in the short term, stronger in the long term.

There wasn’t really a choice to be made here.

“All right,” he looked at the little cleric with resolve clear in his eyes, “let’s do it.”

 

XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX

 

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from frowning at his new body.

It didn’t look any different to how it did before but something felt… off.

“Something feels wrong,” he admitted with a frown, earning a small chuckle off the plant like Adari.

“That’s probably because of your level limit being removed,” Trey answered with a shrug, “before you were near your limit, so getting used to having it raised is going to be weird for you to start with.”

Shirou once again found himself staring blankly at the other boy, it was almost like he thought this was some sort of video game with the way he was talking.

“That makes no sense,” he stated bluntly, earning a shrug off the boy.

“Well it makes sense to me,” the demonic boy responded without hesitation, “just because you have no idea what we’re talking about doesn’t mean we’re not right.”

Shirou honestly didn’t know how to respond to that.  It wasn’t like he could disprove that claim and he had no idea of what was happening to him so he was just going to have to accept it.

It still made no sense however.

“Okay, fine,” he conceded before deciding to ask an important question, “so how long will it take to train myself for the upcoming battles?”

“Dunno,” he had to blink at that.  He had no idea how long it would take to get back up to his previous level and that was completely powerless before that Lotsa Plotz girl who was clearly below that Sebastian character.

And if he was right, then Lord Vile Plotz was likely to be on an even higher level than Sebastian.

He definitely had his work cut out for him right now.

“Fine, then I guess I’ll start my training,” he said before looking at the current area and nodding to himself as he proceeded to let himself fall into a prone position, where he immediately started to perform push-ups.

“… what are you doing?” Adari asked with clear confusion in its tone.

“Training,” he responded bluntly.

“How is that training?” the plant demon asked him with a frown.

“I’m working my muscles,” he pointed out with confusion at the fact the demon didn’t know what he was doing.

“... does that even work?” the plant asked with even more confusion.

“Well how else would I get stronger?” he pointed out easily.

“By fighting,” he had to blink at that claim.

“What?” it didn’t make sense to him that such a claim would be made.

“Well, it’s normal for a demon to get stronger by fighting,” Adari stated with a tilt of its head.

He had to blink at that claim.

“Well, I’m not a demon,” he pointed out easily.

“Yes you are,” Trey piped in and he found himself freezing at that.

“… what?” that was all he could say in response to that claim.

“You’re a demon,” Shirou couldn’t stop himself from staring at the healer.

“What do you mean I’m a demon?  I’m a human,” he stated easily.

“Not anymore,” that claim made him frown… until he realised why such a statement could be true.

“Wait… do you mean you reincarnated me as a demon instead of a human?” he asked with uncertainty in his tone.

“Yep,” the ease with which Trey admitted that made him frown, “after all, your old body was restricted by the limits set by your native universe... so turning you into a demon removed those limits.”

Shirou found himself lost for words.

On one hand, he had been turned into a demon without any warning… on the other hand, since he wasn’t human anymore he’d be more than capable of becoming stronger and more capable of saving people.

There wasn’t really any question as to which was more important to him.

“Fine,” he let the matter drop before making his next comment, “so then how am I supposed to get stronger?”

“Simple, you fight, fight and fight some more,” Adari stated with an amused grin.

For his part, Shirou felt himself frown at that explanation… he wasn’t used to the idea of improving because of fighting, even if he had grown immensely back when he fought both Archer and Gilgamesh.

Which actually made him frown.

Those fights were already proof that it was possible to improve over the course of a battle so why was he dismissing this explanation just because he wasn’t going to have any ground breaking revelations mid fight?

“All right then, I’ll give it a shot,” he conceded earning a nod of agreement from the duo.

“First things first though,” Trey started before throwing something at him, “gotta give you this.”

Shirou caught the offending object easily before noticing it was necklace with some type of crest hanging from it.

“Uh… what’s the deal with this?” he asked, earning a sigh off the duo.

“Just put it on,” Trey said with a frown on his face.

Shirou didn’t know what the deal with this object was but he did as he was told.

Almost immediately, he felt power flowing into him, making his eyes widen in shock at the power he now felt flowing through his body… it was clear that this object had made him stronger just by being worn but at the same time, he felt lethargic due to it.

He was about to question the tiredness he felt when the blonde boy proceeded to point his staff at him and he felt his lethargy vanish as if it had never been there.

His mind worked slowly to try and figure out what had just happened.

“An imperial seal grants you power but it doesn’t reinvigorate you,” the plant demon stated easily, obviously seeing his confusion at the situation.

“Ah, thanks Adari-san,” was the only response he could make before clearing his head, “okay, so now I’ve got to find someone to fight against.”

He felt more confident than he would’ve before, mainly due to the fact that this imperial seal was granting him enough strength that he was certain he surpassed his pre-reincarnation self in every area.

“Well, you could always find one of Vile Plotz’s units and kill them,” Trey offered easily.

Shirou found himself frowning at that statement.

“But what if I come across a good person being forced to fight for him?” he asked without hesitation.

“… you really don’t get what these generic evil armies are like do you?” Trey asked with a sweatdrop of disbelief.

“There’s no such thing as a ‘generic evil army’, everyone has something to fight for,” Shirou pointed out without missing a beat, honestly the mere fact that the boy thought such a thing was ludicrous.

“Perhaps in a more morally complex setting, but in a place like this, there definitely are generic evil armies,” the healer responded to him easily, “sure the higher ups might have more complex motivations but the grunts tend to just be puppy kicking evil.”

Shirou honestly didn’t know what to think of that line of thought.

Did Trey honestly think that such a situation was even remotely rational?

In the end, all he could do was stare at the guy who casually dismissed an entire army as being nothing more than a bunch of murderous psychopaths.

“… fine then,” the boy relented with clear frustration, “if you see anyone that’s being forced to fight against their will, feel free to try and recruit them.”

He nodded in agreement.

Recruiting was fine so he wasn’t going to argue with that idea.

That was when he stalled.

“What do you mean ‘recruit them’?” he asked in confusion, earning a blank stare off the healer.

“If you’re going to try and take down Vile Plotz, you’re going to need an army,” the blonde boy stated bluntly, “so recruiting his own minions into your ranks wouldn’t hurt… well, as long as they’re not going to turn on you as soon as it’s convenient.”

An army.

Such an idea had never occurred to Shirou and he found himself frowning at it.

He didn’t want an army, if he was leading an army then there was more chance for the people he’s supposed to be protecting to die.

“No,” he stated bluntly, “I’m doing this because I want to save as many people as I can, putting them in harms way is only going to risk them unnecessarily.”

“And if you fail, they’re going to die anyway,” Trey said with amusement in his tone, “so let them decide for themselves if they’re going to risk their lives for this war.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from freezing at that statement.

While it was true, it didn’t change the fact that he didn’t like the idea of risking others when he could simply risk himself.

“I don’t like it,” he admitted.

“Well tough, you’re not going to defeat Vile Plotz without help,” the blonde demon stated firmly, “so either get yourself an army or fail miserably.”

He could do little more than frown at that.

“I’ve fought his forces already, they’re pretty weak so as long as I can grow strong enough to fight him then I should be fine,” he pointed out without hesitation.

“… Seriously?” Adari sounded unconvinced, “haven’t you ever heard of The Sorting Algorithm Of Evil?”

“The what?” there was nothing else he could say in response to that question.

“The Sorting Algorithm of Evil,” the healer of the group spoke up again, “the guy’s you fought were the weakest of the weak, the guys that you’ll be fighting when you reach Plotz will probably be several times stronger than his daughter.”

Shirou found himself unsure what to think.

It sounded a bit too contrived but at the same time, the idea that Plotz would keep his strongest minions close by made sense.

But he still didn’t want to risk the lives of others in this conflict.

“I just don’t like the idea of risking others,” he said once again.

“You’re beginning to sound like a broken record,” Trey pointed out with a frown, “just get it through your thick skull that this is bigger than you and demons are entitled to fight for themselves.”

“If you don’t accept this… then I’ll tie you up and keep you safe and warm inside my bulb,” Adari stated with a grin.

“F-fine!” he may have hated the idea of risking others… but the idea of being tied up, trapped _inside_ a person _and_ unable to fight wasn’t something he felt even remotely comfortable with.

“Good,” Trey spoke up with a grin, “now, I’ve got stuff to get sorted, so why not go and pick a fight with some grunts.”

And with a wave of the healers hand, a dimensional portal opened up before him, causing him to take a deep breath as he jumped through in preparation of facing whoever was on the other side.

 

XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX

 

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from frowning as he returned through the dimensional gate.

He had thought Trey was exaggerating or stereotyping the type of demons that worked for Vile Plotz.

But no, these people actually _were_ kicking a puppy for no better reason than to prove themselves as being heartless monsters and completely evil… they even told him that was why they were doing it.

Honestly, he found it hard to believe such a way of thinking even existed.

“So…” Trey spoke up with amusement clear in his voice, “how did it go?”

“…” he remained silent as he walked past the healer while trying to suppress the previous encounter from his mind.

“Well come on,” the blond healer spoke up again, “was I right or was I right?”

“… yes,” he hated to admit it but the healer was right, this particular batch of grunts was generically evil.

“Told you so,” the grin that was worn by the bleeding boy definitely fit the words he said, “anyway, we’ve still got to wait until Rosen Queen is set up before you can buy equipment… but at least I’ve managed to get someone to hire for you.”

Shirou froze at that statement.

“What do you mean hire?” he asked in confusion before Trey pointed towards something and he followed it until his gaze landed upon what he was certain the healer was directing him to.

It was a male demon that looked like a stereotypical, cloak wearing cowboy from the old Western movies… with the exception of the missing shirt under the cloak that is.

“Who’s that?” he asked, earning a snort of amusement off the demonic boy.

“The recruiter,” it was a simple answer and Shirou found himself staring at the boy blankly once again, “what?  That’s his name.”

Shirou seriously doubted that statement.

But it was unlikely that Trey would tell him the truth so he decided to just drop the matter and meet with the new person.

“Hello,” he called out to the gunslinger who simply nodded in greeting, “I’m Emiya Shirou it’s nice to meet you mister…”

“Not mister,” the stranger said firmly, “I am _The_ Recruiter.”

The red haired Magus once again found himself frozen in disbelief.

“T-that can’t really be your name can it?” he asked in disbelief, earning a blank expression from the demon.

“Of course it can,” the response was clearly annoyed but the stranger proceeded to continue with what he was saying regardless, “now are you going to recruit some one?  Since it’s your first time that kid over there is going to pay for it.”

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from staring blankly at the recruiter… he had honestly not expected to ever have such a conversation with anyone but then again, he hadn’t expected to show up in a Demon Infested Netherworld that looked surprisingly normal.

“Uh… why is Trey going to pay?” he asked before realising that he hadn’t actually made anything since he came to this world.

“Ask him yourself,” the response wasn’t something he had been expecting, “now are you going to see about recruiting someone or not?”

Shirou honestly didn’t know what to do.

Recruiting demons did make some sense but once again, his desire to not put others at risk was rearing its head.

“Just get him a ranged support unit,” he almost jumped upon hearing Adari behind him, “the idiot won’t  hire anyone unless you make him.”

Turning to face the Alraune, he opened his mouth to deny that allegation but was cut off by The Recruiter.

“How does a level one blue mage named Trinity sound?” the gunner asked earning a nod of agreement off the plant demon, “all right then, I’ll let her know you’re going to hire her.”

Shirou turned to the man as he pressed something on what he could only assume was a tablet PC.

Honestly it was actually rather weird seeing such a thing in this setting.

“Done, she should arrive in a few seconds,” Shirou didn’t understand what the guy meant by that… until a portal opened before him and someone stepped out.

“Hello there, you must be my new boss!” the stranger was a young girl wearing a dark blue robe and possessing vibrant blue hair and light blue eyes, “thank  you for hiring me, I can’t wait to die for you!”

“…”

Silence reigned at that claim.

It was at that point that Shirou decided that he was going to have a harder time saving people than he had initially expected.


	3. Chapter 3

Shirou was definitely regretting hiring Trinity.

“DIE!!!” he had to dodge as a pillar of ice erupted around the foe he had been directly next to.

He was certain he would have been hit if his reaction speed wasn’t as impressive as it was.

“Trinity!” he called out unhappily as he looked towards the blue haired mage, “we are going to have to have a talk about friendly fire!”

He was definitely not happy with the fact that she didn’t seem to care if she hit him in her attempts at defeating the armies of Lord Vile Plotz.

“All right boss!” she shouted cheerfully, “I’ll make sure I hit you next time!”

He almost froze at that statement from the ice mage.

“What?!  **_Don’t_** hit me!!!” he may not have been against giving his life to save someone… but the thought of having an ally intentionally trying to kill him in the middle of a fight with an enemy wasn’t something he was comfortable with.

It reminded him too much of Archer.

Though at least Archer didn’t try and kill him with a chirpy smile on his face.

“But isn’t that what friendly fire is supposed to be?” the blue haired mage asked with confusion, “unless it requires fire… I can’t really do that.”

“Friendly fire is **_Bad_**!” he stated firmly praying he got through this situation in one piece despite her clear attempts at preventing him from doing so.

“Huh?” she looked outright confused at his declaration before she tilted her head, “but it’s called **_Friendly_** fire… so isn’t it a good thing to practice?”

He could do little more than stare at her as he tried to comprehend her twisted logic… is this how Rin had felt when she confronted him after exposing himself to Gilgamesh?

If so then he would definitely have to apologize to her if he ever saw her again.

“Uh… are you finished yelling at her yet?” his attention was directed back towards his opponent, a young man who looked like a generic fighter wielding a spear.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he answered with a sigh as he found himself relieved that his enemies seemed to be rather courteous when it came to conversing with allies.

Almost immediately, the spearman charged at him and he found himself ducking forwards, under the wide swipe and into his opponent’s guard where he immediately brought his blades up to strike his foe.

He wasn’t surprised when his foe managed to avoid being bifurcated by his attack but he followed up and continued to keep himself too close for his opponent to effectively fight against.

“I call bullshit!” the spearman cried out and Shirou found himself inwardly acknowledging his foes claim… it really wasn’t fair that he was using his understanding of the spears history to predict every move his opponent was likely to make and pre-empt them.

Of course, the fact that he was doing it subconsciously only made that particular skill even more terrifying but it really did make him wonder how he would measure up to a Servant if he wasn’t so physically inferior to them.

It didn’t take long for him to lead his foe into a trap, using the knowledge of the spearman’s reactions and stances to lead him into a position where he would be off balance and incapable of guarding from the attack.

With a satisfying rip, he felt blood spray onto his face as he cut down the enemy, watching as they fell limply to the ground and bled out before turning his attention back towards the rest of the battlefield.

It didn’t take long to determine that his foe had been the last.

“Looks like we won Boss!” the blue haired mage called out with that chirpy smile still plastered on her face… making him watch her carefully just in case she decided to attempt more ‘friendly fire’ against him.

“Yeah…” he found himself responding uncertainly as his suspicions about Trinity refused to leave him.

“What’s wrong?” she sounded honestly confused as she asked that question, however he found himself unsure of how to answer.

After a couple of seconds that led to the blue haired ice witch frowning, he finally decided to be honest.

“I don’t trust you to not try and kill me while my back is turned,” his tone was blunt but that didn’t make it a certainty that she’d notice.

You could never trust a demon to interpret things the same way a human would after all.

“Of course you can’t trust me silly,” the easy way she responded made his eye twitch at how effortless it was for her to admit she couldn’t be trusted, “you should never trust a demon.”

“Go,” he commanded as he pointed at the portal that led back to Trey’s house.

“’Kay boss!” and without any hesitation, the psychopathic girl proceeded to skip through the portal, leaving him the opportunity to walk through without having to watch his back.

What he did do however, was prepare Rho Aias in case he had to block an attack when he exited the portal.

As soon as he stuck his head out, he was ready to bring up the shield, only to release a small sigh of relief upon seeing Trinity standing there without a care in the world.

“...” he kept his silence as he stared at her.

“What’s up?” Trey asked after a few seconds of watching him watch the mage.

“She tried to attack me in the middle of battle,” he stated bluntly.

“They call it _friendly_ fire, so I thought it was supposed to be friendly,” she responded without hesitation.

“Friendly fire is _not_ friendly,” he stated firmly, earning a shrug off the healer.

“Easy mistake to make,” at that declaration, Shirou found himself returning his attention to the boy that had helped him recover after the fight with Gilgamesh and get adjusted to this new world.

“How is it an easy mistake to make?” he asked with his eye twitching at the casual ease with which the healer accepted the idea that friendly fire was friendly.

“Because we’re not human,” the answer made him blink, “different societies, different rules, different attitudes… to us, _nearly_ killing someone can be taken as a sign of friendship since you didn’t outright kill them.”

Shirou had to release a sigh of defeat at that.

It probably said something about his mentality when he considered the fact that he was capable of forgetting such an obvious bit of information.

It was still quite the annoyance though.

“So… how much Hell have you got now?” he found his attention being taken off the concept of having to avoid his own minion’s attacks and back to the concept of money.

Of course, the fact that these demons called their currency Hell was kind of weird, but he’d gotten used to it during his time living there.

“Maybe a few hundred,” he responded as he thought about the money he had effectively been mugging puppy kicking evil soldiers for.

“What you planning on doing with it?” the white haired healer asked immediately afterwards.

“I think Trinity could do with some better protection,” he immediately answered before remembering the issue at hand, “or maybe I should get myself some… armour.”

He hesitated to call the stuff sold at Rosen Queen Shokai armour.

It hadn’t been long after he had hired Trinity that the store had been opened and he had had his first look at the sorts of weapons he would be arming anyone that joined him with.

Most of it looked like toys, cloth or other random assortments of items.

Which is why he had been surprised when he looked at the ‘toy sword’.

It had indeed imprinted itself into Unlimited Blade Works and he had been shocked to find it fitting in closer to the low tiers of Noble Phantasms in terms of raw power.

And that was without any real history of use.

It was no surprise that he had been defenceless against the Daughter of the Overlord if this was how powerful a mere _toy_ was.

The advantage to that, was that even something that looked like a piece of cloth was actually armour that could be considered on par with high end Mystic Codes or low end Noble Phantasms.

The only real downside to all of this, was the objects lack of specialized abilities, such as how none of the spears reversed causality to ensure they had already struck the heart by the time they were thrust.

It was times like this, that he wished he had gotten a better chance to synchronize with Archer, because if he had then he may have learned how to mix and match attributes of weapons to create amalgams of greater power.

And it wasn’t like he’d struggle that much with the cost of projecting such things… since his forced reincarnation into a demonic body, he had quickly discovered just how quickly a demon could grow stronger.

He wasn’t sure but he had the sneaking suspicion that he was now on par with Caster in terms of physical strength without using Reinforcement to enhance his strength further.

With Reinforcement, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was on par with Archer at full power.

It was honestly rather terrifying that he was already potentially on par with a servant and that his magical power had grown significantly since becoming a demon.

“Well,” he was drawn out of his musings as the healer spoke up once more, “I guess that would make sense… but you know what else would make sense?”

Shirou immediately found himself narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“Hiring more minions,” that statement from the bloodied demon had only one natural response.

“I’m not hiring more ‘minions’.”

“Yay!!! That makes me super special!” he found his attention drawn to the new cheering ice mage.

It almost made him want to hire someone out of spite.

But he resisted the urge… it wasn’t like he wanted to hire Trinity in the first place so hiring someone just to stop her from feeling extra special wasn’t something he should do… no matter how tempting the prospect was.

“Only because you were forced onto me,” he decided to point out in the hopes that it would deflate whatever ego trip she was getting from the idea of being his only minion.

“So?” she responded without hesitation.

“Never mind,” he found himself cradling his forehead in his palm as he decided to give up trying to explain anything to the horrifically naïve magic user.

“Anyway… I’m going to go and get myself some armour before Trinity kills me,” and without any further hesitation, he turned to head towards the Rosen Queen Shokai.

“Kay!  See you later boss!” the blue haired mage called out with her chronically upbeat manner.

Without a second thought, he simply made his way towards the store with every intention of finding something that would aid in increasing his ability to fight stronger foes.

Well, survive fighting stronger foes at least.

 

XXX The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord XXX

 

Shirou couldn’t stop himself from feeling stupid.

Walking around in a long coat and a large sash that he wore around his neck wasn’t his idea of good armour… but analysing it told him that it was probably more than enough to stop at least regular Sniper Rounds.

Honestly, he was pretty sure that if he had this back when they fought Berserker, then he wouldn’t have been nearly crippled by the shard of stone that got lodged in his back.

That’s not to say it looked all that impressive, if anything he looked more like a little kid who had just thrown on something because they didn’t have anything else.

“Hey boss!” he found himself inwardly sighing as Trinity made her appearance once again.

“Don’t… say a word,” he said immediately, causing her to look at him with a blank expression as her head tilted to the side.

“About what?” her confusion was obvious, meaning she probably didn’t realize what he as talking about.

“Nothing,” he responded while releasing a sigh of defeat at the blue haired girls inability to act like a normal person.

The mere fact that _he_ was the one who was thinking that wasn’t lost on him.

“Okay…” she didn’t sound very certain but then she opened her mouth, “those clothes look silly on you.”

Must not stab.  Must not stab.

“Trinity… I told you not to say anything about that,” he stated with frustration clear in his voice.

“Oh… so that’s what you meant,” she sounded like she now understood, “but if you don’t like it… then why don’t you just hide it?”

Shirou had to take more deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down.

“Trinity, it’s not that easy to hide this sort of stuff,” he pointed out with a twitch in his eye.

“What do you mean?” she sounded genuinely confused, “you just put it under your normal clothes duh.”

She spoke as if it her logic was flawless, but clearly she didn’t realize that so much fabric wouldn’t fit without making his shirt bulge out and remain uncomfortable.

“Trinity, it won’t fit,” he pointed out bluntly, causing her to stare at him blankly in response.

“Why not?” she asked with her usual cluelessness.

“Because they’re bigger than the clothes they’d be kept under,” he stated with an exasperated sigh.

“Yeah, so doesn’t it make more sense to keep the smaller ones on top?” he really had to stop himself from facepalming at that.

“Trinity, physics don’t work like that,” he pointed out.

“Not in a human world at least,” he was drawn out of his conversation by the voice of Adari calling from beside him.

“What?” he found himself asking in confusion.

“It wouldn’t work in a human world but this is a Netherworld,” the plant like demon stated easily, “physics here are a bit less… consistent.”

That… really didn’t make sense but then again, Noble Phantasms didn’t make sense from a physical stand point either, so perhaps he could do to give the demonic greengrocer the benefit of the doubt.

“Fine, I’ll try it,” he gave in before moving towards the house, ready to get changed and hope that they weren’t just screwing with him.

It honestly didn’t take long for him to test what they said and he found himself staring blankly at the mirror upon finishing the test.

The large coat that had previously covered his entire form, and the sash that he had decided to protect his neck with, were now nowhere to be seen.

They were most certainly there, he could feel them pressing against his skin after all, but they somehow managed to hide under his thin, white and blue shirt without much effort.

It was genuinely surprising that it had worked, after all, back home such a thing would’ve never have been possible.

But then again, Adari had said that physics worked differently between the worlds, so he shouldn’t be that surprised.

Releasing yet another sigh, he made his way out of the house and immediately noticed the Ice Mage being held in place by the Plant-like demon.

“What’s going on,” he asked with a frown.

“This one was going to do something naughty,” Adari stated without hesitation, earning a pout from Trinity.

“Is peaking on him when he changes really that bad?” the response was immediately and completely shameless… and Shirou found himself more surprised by his lack of surprise than anything else.

“Yes,” he stated without thinking, “how would you like it if I did that to you?”

He immediately regretted it as the girl simply gave a chirpy smile.

“If you want to, just let me know so I can put on a proper show!” he found himself internally groaning at that.

He should’ve seen that coming, he really should have but he had walked right into it.

“I shouldn’t have asked should I?” he said with a resigned sigh.

“Why not?” the blue haired mage sounded confused.

“Look, you’re not allowed to peek,” he stated firmly, earning a tilt of the girls head, “no peeking… full stop.”

“Why?” she asked him and he found himself wondering if he would ever be able to explain anything to her.

“Because it’s bad,” he stated bluntly.

“… but doesn’t that mean I should do it?” her logic was completely off base but then again… she was a demon so doing bad was probably something she was expected to do.

“If you want her to not peek on you,” Adari spoke up and Shirou found his attention drawn towards the plant demon, “then you could always just give her a private show.”

“No!” he exclaimed immediately.

The chuckle that escaped the demon he’d known longer made it obvious it had just been messing with him and he had fallen for it hook line and sinker.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Trinity hadn’t got the same message.

“Why not?  That sounds like it’d be good,” her cheerful expression made it clear that she really did enjoy the idea, however, that was not something Shirou was willing to do.

“Because I said no,” he decided that trying to explain it would be harder than it would be worth… hopefully she’d listen to an outright refusal… not that he as actually expecting her to.

“Hmm… well… I guess you are the boss,” she seemed a little downcast when she made that claim, but he wasn’t going to give in on this particular topic.

At least she seemed to have given up though.

The fact that Adari was still snickering away didn’t make him feel any better though.

“So boss!” the chirpiness was back and Shirou found himself narrowing his eyes at the blue haired girl, “when are we gonna go back out to fight!”

Well, that was a slightly more reasonable question.

“Have you learned your lesson about friendly fire?” he asked, causing the girl the give a large nod in acknowledgement.

“Yep!” she said without hesitation and Shirou narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“What is friendly fire?” he asked for confirmation.

“Friendly!” she said without thinking and Shirou found himself facepalming once again.

“No, friendly fire is **_not_** friendly!” he stated once again.

He was definitely regretting letting Trey hire someone for him now.

Her response was to tilt her head yet again.

Clearly she had a few screws loose, because he was certain even he wasn’t this dense and he literally had a world filled with infinite swords stuck in his head.

“…” the silence that came from the blue haired mage was telling.

And because of that, he found himself releasing yet another sigh.

“Look, don’t attack people who aren’t enemies,” he said slowly and carefully, “if you do so, then you’ll have less meat shields to protect you during a fight.”

He really didn’t want to use that terminology, but he had a feeling it would be necessary to get through the girls head.

The way her eyes lighted up at that explanation made it clear that it seemed to get through.

“Oh!  That makes sense!” she said with a firm nod as she hit her palm with her fist, “I need more meat shields!”

He nodded in relief at the fact she finally seemed to get it.

“So, when will we get more meat shields?” she asked and he found himself cringing at that question.

“We’re not,” he stated firmly, causing her to frown.

“But if more meat shields are good, then why don’t you get more?” she asked without hesitation and he found himself regretting using that particular explanation.

“Because I don’t want to bring more people into danger,” he stated firmly.

“But if they make good meat shields, then why not bring them along?” she asked him with her childish innocence still obvious in her tone.

“Because I’d rather use myself as a meat shield,” he decided to say.

The look of wide eyed revelation that appeared on her face made him worry about what she was about to say.

“Oh!  Sorry!” she sounded genuinely regretful, “I didn’t know you were a masochist!”

He couldn’t stop himself from spluttering indignantly at that proclamation.

“What?!” he honestly couldn’t believe she had drawn that conclusion from his desire to not see anyone else get hurt.

“Well… if you want to be the only meat shield then doesn’t that mean you like getting hurt?” she responded with her confusion still present in her voice, “and if you enjoy getting hurt then doesn’t that make you a masochist?”

“I don’t like getting hurt!” he exclaimed without hesitation, as much as he didn’t like seeing others getting hurt when they didn’t have to be, it didn’t change the fact that he didn’t enjoy the injuries he suffered from helping others.

“… then why don’t you want other meat shields?” she asked with confusion clear in her voice.

“Because I like the idea of others getting hurt less than getting hurt myself,” he stated as calmly as he could as he wondered how she was going to misinterpret that.

“…” her silence made it clear that she was confused by his claim.

“… think of me as an anti-sadist,” he decided to try and come up with a way she’d understand.

“So… a masochist?” she clearly didn’t understand what he meant.

“No, a masochist is a masochist,” he explained while gritting his teeth, “I am the opposite of a Sadist.”

“… I don’t get it,” her response was enough to make him release a grunt of frustration.

“Just… just drop it,” he said as he gave up trying to make the girl understand.

“Well… okay,” she agreed, “I still don’t get it though.”

“As long as you understand that I don’t want others to get hurt then that’s all you need to know,” he said with a frown.

“Okay,” and with a firm nod of her head, the girl seemed to give up trying to figure out what he meant.

Without any further comments, he found himself walking towards Trey, the blue haired mage following him with a skip in her step as she seemed oblivious to the potential danger they were about to enter.

“So… are you ready?” the little healer asked him, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the teenager, “okay… so, we currently have one of Plotz’s armies attacking Little Village… you ready to try and stop them?”

Shirou found himself steeling himself at the thought of what would be happening there.

But it wasn’t something he was willing to overlook right now.

“Send me there,” he commanded without hesitation, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the healer who quickly proceeded to open the dimensional gate.

“Give them hell Emiya-san!” and with a wave of his hand, the little healer motioned for him to enter the gate.

Even without being told that, Shirou found himself moving through the portal and ending up at the edge of a small village consisting of mudhuts.

“Wow… this place is really crappy,” the voice of his minion called out without any hesitation, “I can see why they’d want to burn it down.”

He felt his eye twitch at that claim.

“That’s enough Trinity,” he stated bluntly, “we’re here to help everyone.”

“… who?” she asked as she looked around in confusion, prompting him to look himself.

Why weren’t any of the houses being destroyed?  And why wasn’t  there anyone fleeing the area or lying dead on the floor?

“HAHAHAHAHA!!!!” a laugh came out from behind him and he immediately found himself growing cold as he recognized the voice, “so you came!  I suppose paying off that spy was the right move to make!”

Turning around he came face to face with the demon that had so casually defeated him before.

The Overlords Daughter.

At least she didn’t appear to be holding her gun ready this time, but she was surrounded by Imps that looked more than ready to attack at a moments notice.

“Hiyah~!” and without any more warning, he found himself watching as one of the Imps was blasted by the overly enthusiastic attack of the blue mage.

“HEY!!!” the Overlords Daughter cried out in anger, “the battle hasn’t started yet!”

“Oh… sorry!” the immediate apology from the blue haired ice mage responded sheepishly, causing Shirou to frown at how easily she acquiesced to being told off by the demonic princess.

“Now… you there!” the horned demon commanded imperiously while pointing at him, “our previous engagement was interrupted and I am here to continue it!”

He found himself tensing as he considered the situation, she was his enemy and he knew she was far more powerful than he was.

“So… show me that pretty pink thing again!” her words cut through his mind and he found himself staring blankly at her.

“… what?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking blankly.

“Wait!  He showed you his ‘pink thing’?!” Trinity asked with shock clear in her tone, “what was it like?”

“It was so big and hard,” the response made a niggling sense of dread well up in the back of his mind, “my, it managed to withstand my attack quite remarkably!”

“Trinity… what do you think my ‘pink thing’ is?” he asked the blue haired girl who simply looked at him like he was stupid.

“Huh?  Well… isn’t it what hangs between your legs?”

“Urrk!” he could immediately hear the choking noises that came from the demon princess, “THAT’S NOT IT AT ALL!!!”

“Huh?” the ice mage sounded even more confused now, “but… you said it was big, hard and pink?”

“She’s talking about one of my shields,” Shirou found himself clarifying.

“Yes!  Now show me it again!” Shirou probably wouldn’t have agreed so easily if it hadn’t been for Trinity’s complete misunderstanding of the situation, but he found himself more than happy to turn on his circuits and respond.

“Rho Aias,” it was simply said, not yelled or really even focused on, but it didn’t change the fact that the giant protective barrier of seven layers appeared before him.

“… oh,” the response of the mage was clearly surprised, “I guess it is pretty.”

“Yes!  That it is!” the tanned demon agreed enthusiastically.

“… but why would you have a shield boss?” the mage asked him with confusion clear in her tone.

“Trinity… just drop it,” he commanded, earning a frown off the girl.

“But why would a masochist like you want a shield?” he wanted nothing more than slap his face in despair.

“M-masochist?!” great, now he had the demon princess thinking he enjoyed pain.

“I’m not a masochist,” he stated bluntly, “she just doesn’t understand the idea of an anti-sadist.”

That seemed to draw a thoughtful expression from the demonic girl.

“Does that mean you like making others feel good or hate seeing other get hurt?” he had to blink at her question and found a sense of relief flood him from the fact that he wouldn’t have to deal with another person like Trinity.

“The latter,” he acknowledged, earning a slow nod of understanding from the girl before she let out a pout.

“That’s bad,” she proclaimed immediately and Shirou found his eyes narrowing.

“Is it?” the blue haired girl asked immediately and Shirou found himself narrowing his eyes at the situation.

“Yes,” the princess responded without hesitation, “for it means that he will never agree to become mine!”

Well… that was certainly something he could agree with her on.

“Uh… boss lady,” one of the imps spoke with clear hesitation, “can we attack them yet?”

“Not yet,” she responded with a sigh of annoyance, “now you… uh… what is your name?”

He found himself swallowing uncertainly as he gave his response.

“Emiya Shirou,” it was short and simple, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the girl that had asked him.

“Very well then,” the woman said before turning to her minions, “I want Emiya Shirou alive, do what you want with the other one.”

“YES BOSS LADY!!” the group of Imps responded immediately even as the dress wearing demon princess proceeded to move out of the area with a casual gait that made it clear she felt no threat from him.

Not that he could blame her for dismissing him after the last time they had gotten into conflict with each other.

Even if he had grown more powerful since his loss to her, it didn’t change the fact that the gap before had been enormous, so all he was doing was catching up to her.

“So… what do we do now boss?” Trinity asked and Shirou found himself simply looking at the enemies as they prepared themselves to attack.

“We beat them,” he stated firmly, “as long as that girl isn’t here, we should be fine.”

And without a second thought, he dropped Rho Aias before tracing Kanshou and Byakuya and charging towards the group of minions.

 

XXX The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord XXX

 

She was not impressed.

To think that her big sister would develop a soft spot for someone who admitted to being an ‘anti-sadist’.

Sure it was just the shield that she was actually interested in, but it was still rather pathetic.

Even now, looking at the boy standing with that giant pink shield in place made her feel revulsion… to think that such a soft hearted moron actually thought he could stand against her father…

Okay, what the hell just happened?

She watched as the self-proclaimed ‘anti-sadist’ proceeded to cut a swath through the Imps that had charged him.

There was no hesitation in going for a killing blow, no indication that he was put off by slaughtering his foes, no indication that he felt any remorse for what he was doing.

His expression looked more like he was doing a job than anything else.

Her eyes narrowed as she paid close attention to the attacks he made, each one was designed to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible, each opening in his stance that was aimed at was swiftly revealed to not be an opening at all and no matter how much the Imps tried to hurt him, they simply couldn’t overcome his natural ability to simply remain one step ahead of them.

Honestly, his own minion was proving to be far more dangerous to him than those employed by her sister, what with how it seemed to consider him a valid target for her attacks.

But that didn’t matter.

Because she found herself smiling as she watched the carnage happening below.

Now she found her sisters interest in this ‘Emiya Shirou’ far more reasonable.

After all, she could feel her heart beating faster as she watched him callously cut down his foes without mercy.

Licking her lips she understood why Lotsa would want him.

But that didn’t matter.

Quality beat out over quantity after all.

If her sister had lots of plots to choose from, then she had the meaner ones.

Now the question was, how could she break this boy down and make him realize he was far crueller than he thought he was.

It would require some thought, but she was certain she’d have enough time to come up with something suitably cruel.

Or her name wasn’t Meena Plotz, the second (and last) daughter of Lord Vile Plotz.


	4. Chapter 4

"You really do need to get some more minions," Shirou could do little more than release a sigh of annoyance as he was once again healed up by Trey.

"I've told you before, I'm not getting anyone else involved," he stated bluntly.

"Yeah, yeah," the boy responded without hesitation, "but eventually you're gonna have to get more support if you want to defeat Plotz."

Shirou once again found himself twitching at the name.

It was still hard to accept that such a name actually existed.

Of course the worst part was that he understood exactly what the healer was talking about.

Even if he had grown more powerful, he could already tell that the enemies he was facing were also growing stronger.

It was ridiculous, seeing the foes he was facing becoming stronger even as he put all his effort into fighting them… but it was happening right before his eyes.

It even made him worry that figures like the Overlord's daughter were growing stronger too.

After all, if his enemies were getting stronger and he was growing stronger as well, then what was stopping his targets from getting stronger?

"Are we getting more meat shields?"

"No," Shirou immediately responded without any hesitation as Trinity's voice piped in.

"Aww…" the disappointment clear in her tone made it clear she was unhappy with that refusal.

"Anyway, that's you fixed up," the constantly bleeding mage told him and he found himself rising from the seat he had taken and stretching.

"Thanks," he responded without thinking, earning a grunt from the demonic boy.

"Yeah well, if you die then our main hope for stopping Vile Plotz will have been lost," the pointy eared boy stated with a frown.

Shirou found himself inwardly flinching at that.

The thought that everyone's hope was resting on his shoulders wasn't something he was comfortable with.

"But enough about that," the greyish blonde boy spoke up with a little more enthusiasm, "I've finally managed to get a hold of an Item Worlder."

"… a what?" he was certain his voice was bland as he asked that question.

"An Item Worlder," the healer stated with a sense of certainty in his tone, "every item has a world held within them, so an Item Worlder transfers you into them in order to delve deeper into its potential and eliminate imperfections contained within it."

Okay… that just sounded outright stupid.

Meaning it was probably true given what his experience in this world had managed to teach him.

"… so what's the point?" he found himself asking, earning a sigh off the other demonic boy.

"You go into an item," the healer started talking to him like he was a two year old, "you kill all the imperfections… then you go deeper into its potential and make it stronger, while making yourself stronger by killing things in there."

He could do little more than blink in response to that.

Once again, it didn't make sense but he found himself believing it regardless.

"So… do you want me to use it to train?" he asked, earning a nod in response, "so where is this 'Item Worlder'?"

"Over this way," and without any hesitation, the greyish-blond started to lead him over to a young girl with slitted orange eyes, blonde bangs, pointed ears and a mischievous grin.

Her clothes however, made him feel uncomfortable.

She was wearing a small white tube top with a brown jacket with orange lines down the sleeves, that didn't go lower than halfway down her torso, while the sleeves were large and baggy, leading into a set of gloves that looked almost like cartoonish animal paws.

Beyond that, there were the matching brown hotpants with a pair of blue pouches on the front, the thigh high orange and white striped stockings, animal paw like boots the large brown hat that looked like it was meant to imitate cat ears while a pair of goggles with orange slitted lenses rested on the rim.

The part that made him the most uncomfortable however, was the large, black pet collar wrapped around her neck.

"Here we are," the boy told him without delay, "the Item Worlder."

"Hey there!" the girl spoke with enthusiasm, "I'm the Item Worlder, here to help you with all your Item World needs!"

Shirou simply found himself staring in response.

Hearing such a clear advertisement was something he wasn't sure if he should be surprised by or not.

"So how does this work?" he decided to simply ignore the comment.

"You just hand over the item you want to improve and I'll do the rest!" she told him immediately and he found himself frowning once again.

"Is it really that simple?" he asked.

"Well… the strength of the demons inhabiting it depend on the power of the item," the girl stated with a thoughtful expression on her face, "you'd probably die pretty quickly if you go into something beyond your ability."

Well, at least he was being warned about that now instead of having to find out himself.

"Oh! And of course you can only leave after ten floors unless you use a Mr Gency Exit," he found himself blinking at that, "Oh! And of course, gotta give you five."

And with that, he found himself blinking as a series of objects were shoved in front of him.

They looked like small doors and made him wonder just what they were used for.

"Uh… how am I supposed to use these?" he asked, causing her to blink.

"You just put them on the floor and walk through them," she sounded surprised as she said that.

"… how am I supposed to fit through that?" he asked, causing her to stare at him blankly.

"It gets bigger once you place it on the ground," she told him and he found himself blinking in surprise at the simplicity of the explanation.

"Oh," that was all he could say in response.

"So, what are you going to improve first?" Trey's voice cut in and he found himself thinking about that.

"What wouldn't outright kill me?" he asked the girl as he started to pull out his equipment only for the girl to speak regardless.

"Pretty much everything outside of those magic-weapons stuck in your head," her response made him freeze.

"W-what?" he found himself wondering just how she could tell.

"I mean, take this thing," she said and he found his eyes widen in disbelief.

How the hell was she now holding Caladbolg II?

"You'd definitely be killed if you tried to upgrade this thing," she stated but he couldn't stop himself from staring in disbelief, "but most of the normal stuff you got in there would be doable for you… hey? You okay?"

"H-how did you get that?" he asked even as he tried to comprehend the mere idea of someone else taking a weapon out of his Reality Marble.

"I'm a thief… it's what I do," she stated without hesitation, "here you go."

And with that, he found the blade once again in his Marble.

It was actually rather nerve wracking.

The idea of meeting someone who could reach into his soul and take a weapon from it was not something he had ever considered possible.

"So… what's first?" the girl asked without any indication she even realized how much she had just unsettled him.

"Don't worry about it," the bleeding boy said without hesitation, "extra-dimensional storage doesn't help against these guys."

He found himself swallowing nervously but he tried to push the thoughts out of his head.

He tried to think about something worth working on.

"What about these?" he asked as he called forth Kanshou and Byakuya.

"They'd probably kill you," she told him without hesitation, "you  _might_ be able to get through the first stage of them… but no guarantee you'd survive."

He found himself thinking about that.

Those two blades were probably the two he was the most comfortable wielding due to his synchronization with Archer and how often he used them in the Grail War.

And with his thoughts in his head, he found himself considering the situation.

Even if he was too weak to guarantee victory in the Item World, that was probably ignoring his single greatest attribute.

"I'll upgrade these," he said firmly.

"You sure?" she asked him and he found himself nodding without hesitation, "okay then."

And with that said, she proceeded to perform a quick ritual, resulting in a dimensional gate appearing above the blades.

"Just hop on in," she told him and he took a single deep breath before taking a step into the portal.

XXX The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord XXX

Shirou couldn't stop himself from feeling exhaustion as he exited the Item World.

Trinity wasn't looking too good herself, but he found himself less concerned about her than was normal for him.

Maybe it was because she kept forgetting she wasn't meant to target him with her attacks.

"Wow… I'm impressed," the Item Worlder said with a sly grin, "I didn't expect you to beat a full ten floors in there."

Shirou simply nodded in acknowledgement even as he felt the Twin Blades return to their place within his Reality Marble.

"And we even levelled up!" Trinity's voice called out enthusiastically and Shirou once again found himself resisting the urge to twitch.

"Trinity, this isn't a game," he stated bluntly, causing her to blink at him.

"Well duh," she sounded like she was talking to an idiot, "the author lacks the talent to make this into one."

He felt like banging his head against a wall.

Of course she'd make a stupid remark like that.

"Just… forget I said anything," he was too tired to try and get through to the girl right now.

"'Kay!" her chirpiness was still just as irritating as ever, "so… are we gonna go get healed now?"

"Yes," he acknowledged, earning a small cheer from the girl even as she started to skip over to the white clad demon boy.

"Still," he found his attention drawn to the girl who had sent him into his Noble Phantasms, "I'm sure you've been asked this before… but why is  _that_ the only minion you have?"

"Because Trey hired her for me and I refuse to hire anyone else," he stated without hesitation.

The brown clad girl took on a thoughtful expression before a look of realisation crossed her face.

"Oh! You're trying to power-level your way up to Overlord Level aren't you?!" she sounded completely certain of that but he found himself blinking in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" he found himself frowning.

"Well, if you're refusing to use anyone else, then doesn't that mean you're hogging all the experience and just levelling up yourself?" her statement made him frown.

The fact that she made it sound like a game too only made him a bit more annoyed.

But at the same time… she wasn't exactly wrong about what the results were likely going to be.

"Well, I have to defeat the Overlord," he admitted, earning a nod off the girl.

"Yep, and once that's been done, you can rule us with an iron fist with no one strong enough to challenge you," her words made him blink in shock at her.

"That's not what I want!" he proclaimed with annoyance in his tone.

"Yeah… that's what they all say," she responded without any hint of concern, "but hey, as long as you let me do my thing, I won't complain."

He honestly didn't know how to respond to that.

Was that really how people saw his decision to not hire anyone else?

That he was just some power hungry monster who wanted to accumulate strength just so he could overthrow the Overlord and take over the world?

"Well, see ya!" the thief said with her smirk still on her face.

He wasn't sure what to think about that dismissal.

"I… I…" he started to try and argue only to be cut off by her.

"Aren't you going to go and get healed?" he released a sigh as he decided to simply try and ignore the idea that he was being seen as a power hungry tyrant.

"Y-yeah…" he said as he turned to make his way to Trey to get himself healed.

It didn't take him long to reach the blonde boy who immediately spoke to him.

"So… from what Trinity say's, you're pretty dangerous when you don't have those two swords of yours," Trey's words said a sense of interest in his tone.

Shirou found himself sighing once again.

"Well…" he wasn't sure what to say.

On one hand, he was indeed more dangerous when he wasn't using the Twin Blades, but it was hard to discard them given just how integral to him they had become.

"Well… I have a connection with those two swords," he admitted with a shrug.

"So how do they compare now?" the boy asked and Shirou found himself focusing on the two blades.

For all their previous power as Noble Phantasms, those ten short floors of fighting had resulted in the blades becoming sharper, more durable and even more dense with magical energy.

"I'd guess they're roughly about twice as strong as they were before," he said uncertainly… it was hard to compare them to how they were before after all.

"Sounds about right for the first ten levels," the cleric said without hesitation even as he quickly healed the injuries and exhaustion that had seeped into his body.

The complete lack of surprise in Trey's tone made it clear that such a concept was perfectly normal… and it made him wonder, just how much could he improve the weapons within the Unlimited Blade Works via that method?

And how much power would he accumulate if he  _did_ try to empower everything to its fullest?

He was certain he had gotten noticeably stronger during his fights within Kanshou and Byakuya, but there were plenty of weapons far more powerful than they were.

Caladbolg was an obvious option, but there was also Durandal, Gae Bolg, Harpe, Gram and more than could be counted accurately.

And beyond that, his own prana output had grown massively.

If his previous maximum had been one hundred units, then he was probably closer to six hundred units now.

He wasn't sure if it would be enough to manifest Unlimited Blade Works, but he was definitely getting close.

That combined with the fact that his physical abilities had grown just as much only made him even more powerful.

And yet it simply wasn't enough.

This power, great enough that he would've been a legitimate threat during the Grail War, was still insignificant by the standards of the Overlord and his servants.

His fists clenched.

Even if he wasn't powerful enough yet, he would just train more until he was strong enough to fight them.

"Well, I guess I'll speak to you later Trey," he said even as he proceeded to leave the boy.

"Yeah, just speak to me whenever you're ready to go out again," and with that, he found himself heading towards someone else, with Trinity following right behind him.

Someone who was probably better for the question he had than Trey was.

It didn't take long to find them.

"Hello Adari-san," he found himself saying without hesitation.

"Oh, hello Emiya-kun, are you here to try my oranges?" it said and he once again found himself cringing slightly at that question.

"N-no… actually, I have a question for you," he responded with a little stutter at the beginning.

"Okay, ask away," the response was quick and easy.

"Does everyone think I'm not recruiting people because I'm a Tyrant that wants to be stronger than everyone?" it was a question that had been bugging him ever since he heard the possible interpretation of his actions.

"Pretty much," the easy response made him frown.

"And what about you?" he asked the plant more specifically.

"Me? I think you're a naïve idiot who doesn't take good advice when it's offered," that opinion was actually something he would prefer everyone had of him.

After all, he had no intention of becoming the Overlord.

"That's good to hear," he admitted with a sigh of relief.

"Not really," the green creature said without a moments hesitation, "after all, what happens  _after_ you defeat Vile Plotz?"

Shirou found himself frowning at that claim.

"What do you mean?" he asked immediately.

"Well, every netherworld needs an overlord… it's kind of a rule," the response was clear and concise, "and if you defeat Plotz, then that position will naturally fall to you."

He found himself blinking in surprise at that but quickly shook his head.

"I don't want to be an Overlord," he stated without hesitation.

"And if you refuse, then that leaves only one other person viable to take the position," that particular statement was made with a blank stare.

"Oh! Oh! Who is it?!" Trinity spoke up from her position not far away.

"You," the Alraune said and Shirou found his mind screeching to a halt.

"Yay! I get to be Overlord!" the blue haired girl started to celebrate and Shirou finally found his mind booting back up.

"… w-what?" he finally managed to ask, his voice filled with a sense of dread he had rarely felt before.

"She'd be the only person strong enough to take over the role," Adari told him without hesitation, "so naturally, if you refuse, then it would fall to her."

That… that was a horrific thought.

The mere concept of someone like Trinity being in charge of the world made him shudder in despair.

"Besides… you said it before didn't you," the demonic plant said with a shrug, "you want to go home… and if you become the Overlord then you can direct the Netherworlds resources towards finding it."

His heart skipped a beat at that statement.

Home.

As much as he wanted to help the people of this world, he wanted to go home far more than he wanted to avoid getting into a position of power.

Because going home meant seeing Rin again.

His heart started to pound in his chest at that thought.

By the time he got back, would things even be the same? She probably thought he was dead, taken out alongside Gilgamesh.

Would she have found someone new?

He needed to find out.

And the sooner he defeated the Overlord, the sooner he would be capable of doing so.

Admittedly he wasn't sure about leaving Trinity in charge of anything… but then again, there wasn't really anything saying he  _couldn't_ remain as this world's Overlord while still going to his home world.

Plus, he had a feeling that Rin would probably be more than willing to exploit all of this maliciously if she ever found out.

It might even be enough to get her to forgive him for letting himself disappear and leave her alone.

Though he doubted that it would be that easy.

"Well… perhaps that wouldn't be so bad," he decided to respond simply, "never really thought about it but I guess there are worse things that could happen."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'd probably make a reasonable Overlord," the former greengrocer said without any sense of uncertainty.

Shirou could do little more than look in surprise at the demon.

He hadn't expected such an easy response.

"Thank you Adari-san," he decided to reply even as he made up his mind about what to do next, "now, me and Trinity are going to go and train a little more."

"We are?" the blue haired girl said with a couple of blinks.

"Well then, I hope you get stronger soon," and with that simple offer of support, Shirou proceeded to head towards the brown clad girl with the mischievous grin once again.

XXX The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord XXX

The item world.

He had only been there once before but now he knew exactly what to expect.

A series of islands floating in an endless abyss, filled with demons who were the personifications of flaws and portals that lead further into the objects potential.

This time he wasn't using a Noble Phantasm, instead deciding to improve the power granted by the Imperial Seal he had been given back when he had first been turned into a demon.

The fact that he would also get the chance to try out the newly improved Kanshou and Byakuya didn't hurt either.

"So… who are we going to kill first?" the blue haired mage that entered with him asked and he found himself releasing a sigh as he tried to figure out who the strongest foes were via the history of the weapons they held.

Of course, that method failed to help him figure out the power of the magic users since their abilities weren't recorded in their staffs.

"Just try and pick off the weakest magic users before taking on the strongest," he commanded even as he pushed himself forward and towards some of the weaker foes.

He wanted to be able to focus on the main threats without having to worry about being ganged up on in the process.

According to the Item Worlder, he should be capable of dealing with the first ten floors in this object without too much trouble, especially after his conquering of the Twin Blades dungeon.

So he pushed forward, preparing himself for all the incoming attacks and moving the black and white swords in what a normal human would probably be unable to comprehend as anything more than a flurry of action.

But each swing was made with clear and precise intent, parrying strikes, flowing past guards and slicing through flesh without any real resistance.

It was almost horrific just how one-sided this particular fight was proving itself to be.

But he knew it was wrong to let his guard down.

This was just the first floor, where the imperfections were at their weakest, as the item's power increased, so would the power of the demons contained within.

And he had no way to heal if things went sour.

So he would get worn down as the enemies grew stronger, meaning he would have to manage his stamina properly in order to make it through.

It didn't change his thoughts on his swords though.

Slicing his way through the first floor turned out to be quite the simple process and he soon found himself standing with only Trinity and a series of corpses littering the area.

"So… are we moving further down now?" the ice mage asked and he found himself releasing a sigh as he focused on returning his breathing back to normal.

"Yeah, we are," he acknowledged even as he moved towards the portal that led to the next floor and entered it.

He still had nine floors to clear after all.

XXX The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord XXX

Shirou found himself leaving the Item World significantly less sore and tired than he had been the last time.

Then again, he had pushed himself a bit more the last time.

This time he had simply used the Imperial Seal and retrieving it, let him know that it had resulted in it becoming about twice as powerful as it had been before.

But even then, the amount of power it granted him was nowhere near as tiring as it had been when he had first got it.

Then again, he was many times stronger now, so the proportional increase in his power was clearly inferior.

However, that didn't change the fact that he now felt like he could probably take on Berserker and be able to hold his own.

Not necessarily win, but at least hold his own against the greatest Hero of Greece.

And to think he had been completely outclassed by that guy mere days ago.

"Thanks for the trip," he said to the Item Worlder, who simply gave him another unnerving smile in response.

Without any further thoughts on the Item World, he found himself moving back towards Trey for some more healing.

"Hey," he said even as he walked up to the boy.

"Yo, need healing?" the boy asked him and he nodded in acknowledgement, causing the boy to start fixing up the minor injuries and fatigue he had been feeling, "so, you still working on your gear?"

"Yeah," he admitted without delay, "I need to improve more if I want to defeat the Overlord."

"That you do," the boy responded without hesitation even as he finished fixing him up.

"Hey Trey," he found himself wondering what the first person he knew in this world would have to say about the subject that had been brought to his attention not that long ago, "what do you think will happen after I defeat the Overlord?"

"Meh, I don't know," the boy sounded rather dismissive of the idea, "the matters of Overlords generally don't concern me."

"What about the current one?" he asked, causing the boy to shrug.

"He's attacking everyone… sooner or later it would be made my problem," it was a simple way of looking at it and Shirou found himself averting his eyes as he thought about just how callous it really was.

Then again, what else should he expect from a demon.

"Why do you ask?" the boy proceeded to question him and he found himself simply releasing yet another sigh.

"Because Adari brought it up," he admitted, "and from what I was told… it sounds like becoming the Overlord myself might be the best option."

"I see…" the boy didn't sound like he agreed with him at all, "you should probably just give up on that idea."

He found himself jerking in surprise at that statement.

"What do you mean?"

"You're too kind to be an Overlord," the blonde stated without hesitation, "you'd be slaughtered by the other Overlords as soon as they smelled blood in the water."

Shirou found himself processing that statement but found a steel forming within him.

If these other Overlords were as dangerous as he said they were, then he would simply have to grow strong enough to take them all out.

After all, he wasn't going to give up his quest to save as many people as he could just because of a little danger.

To do so would be antithetical to the existence named Emiya Shirou.

"Well… if they do, then I'll just have to make sure I'm strong enough to fight them," he said out loud, earning a frown from the healer.

"It's your funeral," and with that, the demonic boy proceeded to walk away and leave him alone with only Trinity.

"So… does that mean I  _don't_ get to be the Overlord?"

XXX The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord XXX

She was most certainly not happy.

To find out that her minions had been slaughtered once she had left them to capture Emiya Shirou for her hadn't been something she had considered.

Especially since he was only about level seven and didn't have particularly good equipment either.

But then again, he  _had_ somehow managed to hurt her back when he was only at level one… so perhaps she shouldn't have been that surprised.

Especially since he had that pretty pink thi-

Shield! Not thing!

Simply remembering what that mage had misinterpreted it to mean made her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

She found herself wondering just why he kept that mage around when he was clearly annoyed with her.

Taking a deep breath she tried to focus on cooling down from her previous train of thought.

It was irrelevant anyway.

She wanted him.

She wanted that pretty shield and she was not going to accept no as a final answer.

But if he was strong enough to take out the guards she took with her before, then she'd just have to send someone stronger to capture him.

… it was just a shame there was only one demon she could think of that operated under her command that fit that criteria.

"You!" she called out to the Imp that was currently acting as one of the guards for her room.

"Y-yes mistress!" the little red cretin responded immediately.

"Bring me Alyssa," she commanded without hesitation.

"Yes mistress!" and with that, the winged creature left to complete their task.

Time seemed to stand still as she waited… but she wouldn't let it get to her… she was a Plotz… Plotz's were meant to be patient, to not rush things and to only reveal their full hand at the very last second when victory was guaranteed.

So she simply closed her eyes and waited.

"Your foot's tapping again mistress," the familiar voice called out and she opened her eyes even as she realized they were right.

"Shut up Alyssa," she responded without hesitation, "you made me wait."

She looked at the commander of the units that were her own personal play things, someone who was powerful enough to lead a unit but not powerful enough to be considered worthy of a higher rank.

It was a woman with the standard pointed ears that most demons had, while her amber eyes held a seriousness that her usual mirthful demeanour usually managed to cover up.

Her silver hair was tied back into a ponytail that fell to her shoulders, while a single extra large bang covered her right eye.

As for what she wore… well, she kept the hot pants and belts she he worn back when she was still just a typical Valkyrie, using two to cover her breasts while the other two simply hung onto her hips.

Outside of that, she wore onyx leg guards while a large black cloak with gold trim hung from her shoulders.

Then there was the spear she always carried with her, complete with a flag bearing the insignia of the Lotsa Corp.

"I have a mission for you," she proclaimed without hesitation, "I want you to find and capture a red haired boy named Emiya Shirou… he also has a pretty pink shield he can pull from nowhere."

"What level of maiming is acceptable?" that was the first question that left Alyssa's mouth upon hearing that mission.

She found herself about to answer before finding the words catching in her mouth.

Despite his sneak attacks on her when they first met, she found herself unable to really see him as someone worth really hurting.

It was pretty obvious that he had simply attacked in an attempt to protect the village she had been attacking… and the next time they had met, he had acquiesced to her wish to see his pink shield without any hesitation.

Which meant that he was only her enemy because of the war going on.

And if he was maimed then he might be less inclined to show her that shield on demand.

"None," she finally settled on, earning a nod of acceptance from the commander.

"Very well… it shall be done," and without another word, the white haired demon commander turned and made her way out of the room.

Now, it wouldn't be long until Emiya Shirou was her prisoner.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's all for now.  
> Shadow out.


End file.
